The Narratives of Caroline Norton

Author:R. Craig

ISBN 13:9780230612174

ISBN 10:230612172

Edition:2009

Publisher:Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date:2009-05-19

Format:Hardcover

Pages:248

List Price:$120.00

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A prolific author of poetry and fiction, as well as a polemicist for reform of laws pertaining to married women, Caroline Norton inspired fictional portraits by Thackeray, Disraeli, Meredith, and her legal woes led to parodies by Dickens and Gilbert. The Narratives of Caroline Norton analyzes the writings of the controversial Victorian feminist in the context of the dominant social narratives of her day. This insightful study considers Norton’s work from the early silver fork writing to the late sensation novels, studies both her serious and satiric narratives, and considers her polemical pamphlets. Throughout, Randall Craig adeptly uses Norton’s stories in their literary and non-literary contexts to explicate the ways in which Victorian women were both defined and confined.